The ONLY Way Philly Wins a Championship With Joel Embiid

The ONLY Way Philly Wins a Championship With Joel Embiid

The most important ingredient to building a championship quality basketball team is finding a superstar that can lead the way when it matters most. Nicola Yokic and Kobe Bryant couldn’t have played the game more differently as stars. Yet, both players led their teams to ships. The key is surrounding these stars with a cast of players that allow them to maximize their strengths while supplementing their weaknesses. Michael Jordan was surrounded by great defenders and rebounders who allowed him to carry the offensive load. LeBron had been surrounded by shooters that can knock it down when he kicks it out to them on his drives to the basket. Which leads us to Joel Embiid, one of the most dominant superstars the NBA has seen with a unique set of strengths and limitations that the 76ers are going to have to build around. We’ve dissected the situation and have a proposed strategy that we believe is the best option for Philadelphia. an innovative strategy that has never really been tried before. A strategy that could actually work. Recently, a journalist for ESPN named Doun Akintoya interviewed Embiid and wrote a tell all story about MB titled Joel Embiid sees you. For the first time ever, we have MB’s open and honest perspective on his situation that should be considered strongly when game planning and mapping out the season. The star big man opened up about his struggles with relationships and injuries throughout his career. The article concluded with Embiid stating that for the first time in his career, he’s taking his time to regain health with no definitive timetable for his return. He did say hopefully sooner rather than later. Analysts have reacted to the article with proposed strategies for how the 76ers could play Embiid considering his health limitations. Nick Wright outlined his opinion that the 76ers should hold him until Christmas and then plot a 25game schedule in which Embiid prepares for the playoffs. It sucks, but you probably only have 50 awesome games in you and we need 20 of those in the playoffs. Yeah, I’m talking about a year from now fully healthy, you know, not recovering starts Christmas time, we’re going to plot out which games you’re playing and you’re not. In his mind, if the 76ers don’t deviate from this strategy, Embiid for the first time in his career would be fully healthy come playoff time when he would be unleashed full throttle against his opponents. While there is some merit to Wright’s proposal, we believe that it remains unal considering the circumstances for a variety of reasons. First off, the obvious one, team chemistry. Having your best player only suit up for a third of the team’s regular season games would never allow the 76ers to fully gel into their roles and get as comfortable with Embiid in the lineup as their opponents who play with full-time stars. Beyond that, there is also the question of conditioning and how Embiid could go from getting plenty of rest to playing 40 minutes per game every second night during the most grueling time of the year for basketball players. The belief that the 76ers actually win it all using this strategy is unlikely. Instead, we propose is to use Embiid as the team’s closer. What this means is instead of playing Embiid in less games, they should consistently use him in the tight minutes restriction. And we mean tight. In general, the 76ers should plan to sit Embiid for the entire first half of games, then utilize him when it matters most in the second half and especially the fourth quarter. Basically, only use Embiid for 12 to 16 minutes per game when he returns and take that strategy into the playoffs. The 76ers shouldn’t even consider playing him additional minutes per game unless they are in an elimination game or potentially deep in the playoffs. Sure, playing a $50 million MVP caliber player for only a fraction of the game is undeal, but on the other hand, having a player with his abilities healthy and energized when it matters most is invaluable. And based on Embiid’s own statements, we believe this can actually work. Embiid was highly criticized for playing for the US Olympic team last summer when his body would barely allow him to play for the 76ers in the playoffs, who were paying him his salary. But Embiid disputed this by claiming no, it did not set him back. His responsibilities in Paris were limited and his playing time was irregular. He says he wasn’t 100%, but his knee and body felt good. Clearly, playing limited minutes was a lot more manageable than the 32 minutes per game he has averaged with Philly throughout his career. Beyond that, Embiid went into detail regarding his playoff series against the Knicks in 2024. The article claims that the Sixers lost the series in six games. Embiid averaged 33 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists and had nothing left in the games when the adrenaline wore off and the pain took hold. And MB told the journalist, “I knew I only had about two quarters. My body was just like, nope, that’s it. There was nothing I could do. I shot probably like 10% in the fourth quarter. If Embibe feels this way in the fourth quarter, there is no way the 76ers can win. Unfortunately, it sounds like there is no way Embiid’s body can play these extended minutes at this point in his career, and the organization is going to have to strategize around his limitations. This proposed minute restriction will allow Philadelphia to play a strategy with continuity throughout the season, something Embiid criticized them for lacking throughout his career. It will also allow Philadelphia to actually develop chemistry and develop in roles that they can play in all season long and into the playoffs. The role players will know that their job is to keep the game as close as possible without Embiid in the lineup during the first half. The players that Philadelphia can build with will be guys capable of slowing down the game on both ends of the court, minimizing the amount of possessions for both teams during the first half of the game and just basically battling for their alpha until he’s ready to come in and take over. Energized and comfortable. While a strategy like this has never been used quite to this level, there is reason to think that it could conceivably work. Manujinobi and Andre Iguodala, for instance, have thrived in sixthman roles, coming off the bench and helping their teams capture championships. Even more so, this strategy is typically used in baseball with guys like Marino Rivera, who could come in during the end of games and become the most critical role on the team, closing out ninth innings. During the most recent World Series, Walker Boler, a starting pitcher for the Dodgers, came into the clinching game and closed out the championship against the Yankees. Embiid could learn to thrive in this role, and he has the talent to get into a groove immediately, as he has proven with his outstanding first quarter play throughout his career. While his stats will obviously be impacted, I don’t think that matters at this point in MB’s career. He has already earned hundreds of millions of dollars playing basketball and proven himself by winning the 2022 23 MVP award. At this point, it’s clear that the only thing he has to prove is that he can win a championship. And to us, this is the most likely path. But we want to know what you guys think. Could the 76ers win with Embiid only playing in the second half in games? Or would they be better using a strategy more similar to what Nick Wright proposed on ESPN? Let us know what you think in the comments section and subscribe to Sports Insights to keep up with our weekly basketball content. Thanks for watching and see you next time.

The 76ers might be out of options. Joel Embiid’s body just can’t hold up through a full season anymore, but what if there’s another way. This video breaks down a bold but realistic strategy—using Embiid strictly as a second-half closer all year long.

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Could limiting his minutes actually be the key to bringing a championship to Philadelphia. Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

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